Calculating machine



March 26, 1940. H. E. BROWN 2,195,023 I CALCULATING MACHINE Filed April5, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 .INVENTOR 2: .gjerfierl 1': Brown k 5 I I E q 5gk z A TORNEYS March v26, 1940. H. E. BROWN CALCULATING MACHINE FiledApril 5, 193.7

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lllllnnnnunnuw INVENTOR glenerl ATTORN EYS Patented or.26, i940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CALCULATING MACHINE ApplicationApril 5, 1937, Serial No. 134,992

6 Claims.

This invention relates to the paper equipment or mechanism for businessmachines and more particularly to an auxiliary paper carriage which willboth tabulate to various columnar positions and line space, and isespecially adapted to handle postal cards for printing public utilitybills.

At the present time most public utility bills which are sent to thevarious consumers are printed on long sheets of paper and in the same 9printing operation a duplicate carbon copy is made on a journal orrecord sheet which is kept by the utility company. This printing isordinarily done in a long continuous single horizontal line, therebynecessitating a long bill sheet. These long sheets must be folded andinserted in envelopes for mailing which operations incur additionalexpenses and further necessitates the use of an envelope, therebyinvolving increased postage as compared with a penny postal card.However, because of its limited size it was impossible to use the pennypostal card with paper equipment heretofore constructed and stillmaintain the conventional manner of posting to a journal or record sheetin a continuous single horizontal line without withdrawing the card andreinserting the same at such a position that some of the printed mattercould be printed in a second line on the card while the printing wascontinued along the same single horizontal line on the carbon recordsheet.

Therefore, it is an object of my invention to provide an auxiliary papercarriage which will support a sheet or card independently of a journalor record sheet and which will tabulate to various columnar positionsand will line space at desired times.

Another object is the provision of an auxiliary paper carriage whichwill line space independently of the traveling paper carriage.

* Another object is the provision of an auxiliary paper carriage whichis independent of ,the regular paper carriage but controlled by the sameto tabulate to various columnar positions and which will line space at adesired time independently of the regular paper carriage.

A further object is the provision of an auxiliary paper carriage whichis adapted to tabuiate to various columnar positions and to line spacein- O dependently of the regular paper carriage, so that in the sameprinting operation, a record may be made in a single horizontal line ona journal or record sheet carried by the regular paper carriage and in aplurality of horizontal lines on a card 65 of limited size carried bythe auxiliary carriage.

A still further object is the provision of an auxiliary paper carriagewhich is adapted to handle postal cards in the printing of publicutility bills.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparenthereinafter. 5

The nature of the invention will be more apparent from the followingspecification taken with the accompanying drawings in which oneembodiment of my invention is illustrated. The invention is illustratedand described as being applicable to a combination calculating andtypewriting machine of the type disclosed in the Hopkins Patent No.1,336,904, although it will be understood as being applicable, as anauxiliary carriage, to the entire generalrclass of business machines ofwhich the above machine is but one form.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a machine of the typeshown in the above Hopkins patent having an auxiliary carriageconstructed in accordance with this invention and supported by theregular paper carriage, the auxiliary carrlage and the regular papercarriage being at their right-hand positions where printing may 35 bedone in column 1, line 1 of the form;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the auxiliary paper carriage in position sothat printing may be done in column 1, line 2 of the form; and

Fig. 3 is a sample of the work performed on the 30 card or sheet carriedby the auxiliary carriage.

Referring to Fig. l of the drawings, there is illustrated the usualpaper carriage III which supports a rotatable platen l I about which arespring clips I2 for holding a carbon and a journal or record sheet uponwhich a continuous record of the bills of the customers of the utilitycompany is printed. The carriage "I is of the conventional type shown inthe heretofore mentioned Hopkins patent and is tabulated into columnarpositions from the right to the end of the line at the left. The platenis also rotated for line spacing the journal or record sheet as shown inthe aforesaid patent. I

In accordance with my invention an auxiliary postal card carriage I4 isprovided. This carriage is independent of the'regular carriage it,although it is actuated and automatically controlled thereby tohorizontally tabulate and skip tabulate to different columnar positions,and to line space as desired as will be described hereinafter. Theauxiliary card carriage I4 is positioned under, the regular carriage l0and comprises a flat metal plate l5 having an opening I5 and a cut awaya portion l5 under the platen II to permit the ribbon R, which extendsin horizontal position under the platen and under the plate l5, tocontact a work sheet or postal card l6 when the type members I1 (Fig. 2)are actuated upwards against the platen II.

Afiixed to the upper surface of plate |4 forward of the platen II is achute |8 which is constructed to receive and guide a card over the plateI 4 and under the platen to printing position. The throat I8 ispreferably formed of sheet metal and has a top cover or wall l9, whichis curved upwardly at the central portion as at' It to facilitate theinsertion and withdrawal of the card by providing more finger room forthe operator, guiding side walls 2|! spaced downwardly, curved walls 2|and a bottom supported by legs 22 riveted or otherwise fastened to theplate l5. At the rear of the throat adjacent the plate I5 and the platenII is, a shaft 24 carried by the guiding side walls 28 and adapted toguide the card 6 into printing position under the platen H and to holdit down against the plate l5. Provided at the rearward edge of the platel5 behind the platen II are two upturned lugs 26, extending in thedirection of the throat l8, for limiting the rearward movement of thecard and for holding rear edge of the same down in proper printingposition against the'plate l5.

Thus, to place a card in printing position, it is first inserted in thethroat l8 and then pushed downwardly and rearwardly under the shaft 24until it engages the lugs 26 and overlies openings I5 and I5". The cardis then in proper printing position where it is frictionally maintainedbecause of the fact that the rear portion of the card is held down bythe shaft 24 and the lugs 26,

and the front portion is bent slightly upward because of the curvatureof the bottom guides 2| and 22.

The card carriage I4 is supported upon a rail 28, having an invertedT-shaped channel 29 in which slide headed studs 88 project from theunder side of the plate l5. a definite horizontal guide controlling thehorizontal sliding movement of the plate to the left when tabulating todifferent columnar positions.

Rail 28 is preferably supported from the top plate 36 by means ofbrackets 22 which are fastened to the top plate 36 at its right and leftsides. The brackets 32 provide a sliding bearing for rail 28 as it ismoved horizontally during tabulating movement. There are furtherprovided lugs 82 also supported by the top plate 86 and which overlierearwardly extending arms 28 and 43 near the ends of the rail 28. Thelugs 32' prevent the rail 28 from moving upwardly so as to interferewith the traveling paper carriage. A spring 33 secured under tensionbetween a stud 34 located on the left front portion of the under surfaceof plate l5 and a stud 35 located at the right side of the stationarytop plate 36 of the machine constantly urges the plate |5 to its normalposition at the extreme right. Movement oi the plate l5 to the right islimited and cushioned by a bumper 31 on the right end portion of therail 28. p r

In order that the auxiliary carriage |4 may tabulate to the left alongwith the usual traveling paper carriage II, a rail 88 at the forwardedge of the traveling carriage is provided with a bracket 35 carrying apivoted dog 48 urged clockwise by a tension spring 4| connected to thebracket 36 and the dog 48. Dog 48 has a turned down edge portion 40' forengagement with astud '42 carried by the plate l5 by which tabulatingRail 28 thus provides.

. print in different columnar positions, the carriage I 8 tabulates fromthe right to the left and causes the auxiliary carriage plate |5 also totabulate to the left on the rail 28, so that when amounts are printed onthe card |6 carried by the plate l5, a duplicate is produced on therecord or journal sheet carried by the paper carriage Hi. It will thusbe seen that the plate I 5 and the regular paper carriage l0 tabulate asa unit although independent of each other and that when the regularcarriage tabulatesor skip tabulates to various columnar positions, thecard plate I5 will do likewise.

Although the transaction is printed in a single continuous horizontalline on the record or jourhave provided a mechanism, which I- shalldescribe hereinafter, by which the card may be line spaced followingpartial entryof the transaction and the remainder of the transactionprinted in a second line thereon in spaced columnar positions. The rail28, along which plate |5 tabulates, is provided at its right end with anarm 43 and adjacent its left end by another arm 44, which arms arepivotally connected to the rearward ends of cranks 45 and 46 as at 41and 48, the cranks being pivoted to the top plate 35 at 49 and 50,respectively. A connecting bar or link 5| is also pivotally attached tothe forward ends of the cranks 45 and '46 as at 52 and 53. A tensionspring 55 connected to a fixed pin 56 on the top plate 36 and to theforward arm of the crank 45, normally urges the crank 45 and also thecrank 46, by operation of the bar 5| to the left, in a clockwisedirection. Accordingly, the rail 28 which carries the plate I5 isconstantly urged in a forward direction. However, a latch 51 carried bythe bar 5| adjacent its left end and pivoted thereto at 51 limits theforward movement of the plate l5 and rail 28 by engaging a stud 58 onthe upper surface of the rearward arm of the crank 46. The latch 51 iscut away or recessed as at 59 to receive-the stud 58, and a spring 54,under tension between the rail 5| and the right arm of the latch 51,constantly urges the latch in a clockwise direction into contact withstud 58. Therefore, the plate I5 is normally held in rearward positionwhile tabulating from right to left during the printing of the firstline of the transaction on the card, although it is constantly urgedforwardly by spring 55.

After printing in the last column of the first line on the card hasoccurredand the carriage 8 is further tabulated, a roller 68 carried bythe rail 38 engages a pointed end 6| of the latch 51 and rocks the latchcounterclockwise to disengage the latch from stud 58, which permitsspring 55 to rock the cranks 45 and 46 in a clockwise direction with theresult that the rail 28 and the plate |5 are moved to a forwardposition. By this forward movement, stud 42 is carried forward anddisengaged from the dog 40 so that the plate I5 is free to return to theright under influence of spring 33. Movement to the right is limited,however, by the engagement of a rearwardly and downwardly extending lug62. projecting from bracket 38, with a stud 63, positioned on the leftfront portion of the plate I5. In this position the postal card carriedby the plate I5 is under the right portion of the journal sheet and isready for printing in the first column of the second line while theregular carriage with the platen carried thereby is in position tocontinue on a single line of posting on the journal or record sheet.Thus, when roller 60 rocks the latch 51, the aforedescribed mechanismmoves the plate l5 forward for second line printing and at the same timereturns it to the right for column one printing, this position beingshown in Fig. 2.

As the regular carriage continues to tabulate to the left, the plate Ialso tabulates to the left, against the action of spring 33, to the samecolumnar positions because of the engagement of the stud 63 of the plate15 with the lug 52 of the carriage i0, and theamounts are printed on thesecond line of the card. After the last amount has been printed on thesecond line of the card and the single horizontal line of the journalsheet, the regular carriage I0 is returned to the right by motor power(not shown) thereby allowing the plate l5 to slide to the right alongrail 28 under the urge of the spring 33.

When the regular carriage l0 and the auxiliary carriage M are returningto their initial righthand positions, the carriage I4 is still inforward, line two printing position, and therefore, I have providedmeans for mechanically returning the auxiliary carriage, plate i5, toits initial rearward, line one printing position. This means consists ofa forwardly extending lug 54 carried by the front rail 38 of the regularcarriage i0 which engages an upstanding lug 65 of the connecting bar 5!when the carriage Hi is moved to the extreme right. The bar Si isthereby moved to the right to rock the arms 45 and 46 in acounterclockwise direction against the action of spring 55 and thuscauses the rail 28 and the plate l5 to move rearwardly into line oneprinting position, where it is retained by latch 51. At this time, afterthe finished card is removed, a new blank card may be inserted in thethroat and the operations again repeated.

Although the foregoing description has set forth one form of auxiliarycard carriage as applied to one type of calculating machine, it will beapparent that the invention may be applied to different types ofbusiness machines.

It will also be understood that changes and other modifications may beresorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a, business machine, a traveling paper carriage,means thereon for supporting a record sheet in printing position, anauxiliary paper carriage, means thereon for supporting a work sheet inprinting position, means for supporting said auxiliary paper carriage onthe machine independently of the traveling paper carriage, saidauxiliary paper carriage being adapted for tabulating movement with saidtraveling paper carriage and for line spacing movement independent of'line spacing movement of said record sheet, means for causing saidauxiliary paper carriage to tabulate automatically with the travelingpaper carriage to position said work sheet for printing in variouscolumns thereon, means acting automatically in a predetermined positionof said traveling paper carriage for line spacing the auxiliary papercarriage and work sheet thereon to second line printing position withoutline spacing movement of said record sheet, and means automaticallyoperable after said line spacing movement for causing said auxiliarypaper carriage again to move with the traveling paper carriage intabulating direction i'or printing in the diflerent columnar positionsof said work sheet.

2. In combination with a business machine, a. traveling paper carriage,means thereon for supporting a record sheet in printing position, anauxiliary paper carriage, means thereon for supporting a work sheet inprinting position, means for supporting said auxiliary paper carriage onthe machine for movements in tabulating or return direction and movementin line spacing direction independently of movements of the travelingpaper carriage, said auxiliary paper carriage also being adapted fortabulating movement with said traveling paper carriage, means forcausing said auxiliary paper carriage to tabulate automatically with thetraveling paper carriage to position said work sheet for printing invarious columns thereon, means acting automatically in a predeterminedposition of said traveling paper carriage for line spacing the auxiliarypaper carriage and work sheet thereon to second line printing positionwithout line spacing movement of said record sheet, means operatingautomatically in said column for causing said auxiliary carriage toreturn to initial columnar position, means automatically operable aftersaid line spacing and return movement of said auxiliary carriage forcausing said auxiliary paper carriage again to move automatically withthe traveling paper carriage in tabulating direction for printing in thedifierent columnar positions of said work sheet, and means for causingthe auxiliary paper carriage to return to initial printing position uponthe return of said traveling paper carriage 3. In combination with abusiness machine, a traveling paper carriage, means thereon forsupporting a record sheet in printing position, an auxiliary papercarriage, means thereon for supporting a work sheet in printingposition, means for supporting said auxiliary paper carriage on themachine independently of the traveling paper carriage, said auxiliarypaper carriage being adapted for movement in tabulating direction withsaid traveling paper carriage and in line spacing direction independentof line spacing movements 01' said record sheet, means for causing saidauxiliary paper carriage to tabulate automatically with the travelingpaper carriage to position said work sheet for printing in variouscolumns thereon, means acting automatically to line space said auxiliarypaper carriage and work sheet thereon without line spacing movements ofsaid record sheet after a predetermined num-- ber of tabulatingmovements of said paper carriage, means for preventing line spacing ofthe auxiliary paper carriage, means for releasing said preventing means,means operable after operation of said releasing means for causing saidauxiliary paper carriage again to move automatically in tabulatingdirection with the traveling paper carriage, and means for causing theauxiliary paper carriage to return to initial printing position.

4. In combination with a business machine, a traveling paper carriage,means thereon for supporting a record sheet in printing position, a railmounted on said machine independently of the traveling paper carriage, aplate mounted on said rail, means mounted on said plate adapted toreceive and hold a card in printing position, connecting means betweensaid plate and the traveling paper carriage by which tabulatingmovements of the traveling paper carriage are imparted to said plate tocause it to move in tabulating direction along the rail with saidtraveling paper carriage to position said card for printing in variouscolumnar positions thereon, means automatically operable in a predetermined columnar position of said plate for line spacing said plate tosecond line printing posipaper carriage to said plate in second line ofprinting to cause it to position the card thereon for printing invarious columnar positions there- 5. In combination with a businessmachine,

a traveling paper carriage, means thereon for supporting a record sheetin printing position, a

rail mounted on the machine independently of the traveling papercarriage, a plate mounted on said rail, means mounted on-said plateadapted to receive and hold a card in printing position, connectingmeans between said plate and the traveling paper carriage by whichtabulating movements of the traveling paper carriage are imparted tosaid plate to cause it to movein tabulating direction along the railwith said traveling paper carriage to position said card for printing invarious columnar positions thereon, means acting automatically forcausing line spacing movement of said rail to line space said plate tosecond line printing position without line spacing movements of saidrecord sheet, means for maintaining said rail in first line printingposition, means for releasing said latter means after predeterminedtabulating movements of said traveling paper carriage, additionalconnections between said plate and the traveling'paper earriage operableafter operation of said releasing means for imparting further tabulatingmovean auxiliary paper carriage, means thereon for supporting a worksheet in printing position, means for supporting said auxiliary papercarriage on said machine for movement in tabulating and returndirections and for line spacing movement independently of such movementsof said record sheet, said auxiliary paper carriage also being adaptedfor tabulating movement with said traveling paper carriage, means forcausing said auxiliary paper carriage automatically to move intabulating direction with the traveling paper carriage to position saidwork sheet for printing in various columns thereon, means actingautomatically in a predetermined position of said traveling papercarriage for causing line spacing movement of said auxiliary carriagesupporting means to line space the auxiliary carriage and work sheetthereon to second line printing position without line spacing movementof said record sheet, means also acting automatically in said column forcausing return movement of said auxiliary carriage to initial columnarposition,

and means automatically operable after said line imaBER'r E. BROWN.

